Rita Melendez Bio 

Rita M. Melendez, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sexuality Studies at SFSU. She is also a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University in 2000. In 2002, she earned a Masters Degree in Biostatistics from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Dr. Melendez was a postdoctoral research fellow at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University, where she received a National Research Service Award Research Training Fellowship (mentored by Anke A. Ehrhardt). She specializes in combined quantitative and qualitative methods in researching HIV issues as they relate to minority women. She has worked extensively with Latinos, specifically heterosexual women and MSM. She has and continues to work with a number of CBOs in conducting HIV research. She teaches several graduate-level methods courses at SFSU relating to sexuality, health and ethnicity. Dr. Melendez is currently working on a number of research projects. She is currently analyzing interview data on Latina and African American women about their religious beliefs and their preferences for HIV prevention in religious organizations (funded through the HISTP program at Columbia University's School of Social Work). Her research has been published in the American Journal of Public Health, Culture, Health and Sexuality, Women and Health, AIDS and Behavior, Journal on Interpersonal Violence and Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Publications

Melendez, R.M. and Pinto, R.M. (in press). ‘It’s really a hard life:’ Safety, gender and HIV risk among male-to-female transgender persons. Culture, Health and Sexuality.

Sandfort, T.M., Melendez, R.M., Díaz, R. (in press). Gender noncomformity, Homophobia, and Mental Health in Latino Gay Men. Journal of Sex Research.

Melendez, R.M. (in press). Transgender Persons, Discrimination and HIV. In Howe, C. and Herdt, G. (eds.) 21st Century Sexualities: Contemporary Issues in Health, Education and Rights. New York: Routeledge Press.

Melendez, R.M., Bonem, L.A. and Sembler, R. (2006). On Research and Bodies: Issues in transgender HIV research. Sexual Research and Social Policy, 3, 4: 21-38.

Melendez, R.M., Exner, T.E., Ehrhardt, A.A., Dodge, B., Remien, R.H., Rotheram-Borus, M.J., Lightfoot, M., Hong, D. and the NIMH Healthy Living Project Team. (2006). Health and Health Care Among Male-to-Female Transgender Persons Who Are HIV Positive, American Journal of Public Health, 96, 6:1034-7.

Melendez, R. M. and Tolman D.L. (2006). Gender, Vulnerability and Young People. In Mane, P. and Aggleton, P. (eds.) Sex, Drugs and Young People. London: Taylor and Francis, 29-47.

Whittier, D.K. and Melendez, R.M. (2006). Sexual Scripting and self-process: Intersubjectivity among gay men. In Kimmel, M. (ed.) The sexual self: The construction of sexual scripts. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Dworkin, S.L, Exner,T.E., Melendez, R., Hoffman, S. & Ehrhardt, A.A. (2006). Revisiting “Success”: Post-Trial Qualitative Results From a Gender-Specific HIV Intervention for Women. AIDS & Behavior, 26:1-11.

Heintz, A.J. and Melendez, R.M. (2006). Intimate Partner Violence and HIV/STD Risk among LGBT. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 2:193-208.

Whittier, D.K. and Melendez, R.M. (2004). Intersubjectivity in the Intrapsychic Sexual Scripting of Gay Men. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 6, 2:131-143.

Melendez, R.M., Hoffman,S., Exner, T., Leu,C.-S. and Ehrhardt, A.A.. (2003). Intimate Partner Violence and Safer Sex Negotiation: Effects of a Gender-Specific Intervention. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32: 499-511.

Hirky, A.E., Kirshenbaum, S.B., Melendez, R.M., Rollet, C., Perkins, S.L., and Smith, R.A. (2003). The Female Condom: Attitudes and Experiences of HIV-Positive Women. Women and Health, 37: 71-89.